Country Dancer

This rose's location in the garden is NW 6.
  • Classification  Shrub
  • Flower Color:   deep pink
  • Flower Size:    4-5 inches
  • Flower Form:  large, semi-double
  • Petal Count:  20-25
  • Fragrance: moderate raspberry, fruity
  • Repeat Bloomer:  yes
  • Foliage:  large, dark green, glossy
  • Plant Height:  3-5 feet
  • Plant Width:   3-4 feet
  • Growth Habit:  vigorous, upright, bushy
  • Disease Resistant:  yes
  • Hybridizer:  Dr. Griffith Buck
  • Registered:  1972
  • Parentage:  (‘Prairie Princess’ x ‘Johannes Boettner’)
  • ARS* Rating 8.3  (very good to excellent rose)
    *American Rose Society Rating

Awards:
  • None

Notes:
  • Dr. Griffith Buck’s…”breeding program was meant to address an ongoing issue: Wild rose species around the world were hardy and disease-free, but bloomed only once per year, and in a limited color range from white to medium pink. They were also quite large — sometimes 15 feet tall and equally wide. On the other hand, the hybrid tea roses developed during the 19th and 20th centuries flowered repeatedly on bushes of a manageable size, but were subject to a host of rose diseases and could not survive extremely cold temperatures. Buck's colleague Neils Hanson brought him cuttings of Rosa laxa 'Semipalatinsk' from Siberia and Buck crossed these with a variety of other species and cultivars. The German rose breeder Wilhelm Kordes also contributed to his breeding stock. Buck described his program in a 1985 speech: ‘My normal procedure was to grow the seedlings in the greenhouse one year until they got big enough, and plant them out the second spring. The only attention they would get would be water and cultivation. I didn't spray for disease.’

  • Buck’s hybrids combined the best characteristics of both groups. He often named his roses after friends — usually in an indirect way — and also chose names that have been described as reflecting "corn belt rural pleasures" such as 'Barn Dance', 'Applejack', and 'Prairie Sunrise'. The cultivars 'Spanish Rhapsody' and 'Sevilliana' commemorate his partnership with Pedro Dot. The largest collection of Buck roses are grown in the Griffith Buck Garden at Iowa State’s Reiman Gardens.” --- (Wikipedia, “Griffith Buck”). Retrieved March 2021.

  • The Laura Conyers Smith garden grows several Buck varieties, including ‘Paloma Blanca’, ‘Distant Drum’, ‘Prairie Sunrise’, ‘Quietness’ and ‘Carefree Beauty’.